Comus 1

Milton's (The Masque of) Comus, a 17th century story of virtue and grace, was the last book to be illustrated by Edmund Dulac, and was published a year after his death. This book obviously demonstrates the last stage of the evolution of his art style. The intent was for Dulac to create a total of ten illustrations for the book, but he died after only finishing six.

Edmund Dulac—one of the greats of the 20th century.

Comus 2

Header Image

By request, here is the original usage of this 'blog's current header image by Willy Pogany from way back in 1916. And below that, another lively fantasy by Pogany, one of my all-time favorite illustrators.

Irresistible

Hey there. I'm back in the studio.

Here's a portion of irresistible perfume ad illustrations by Fred Packer from the 1920s. His style is very seductive, so it's a shame that I see no evidence that he ever illustrated books like his other contemporaries with comparable styles.

Gonna Toot Li'l' Morvin

Another week has flown by, being Sunday, Kelly Sunday again. It almost wasn't, as my super duper computer of the last 5 years bit the dust with horrible optical/visual impairments, just like that, over night. Fortunately I was able to get an even more super duper replacement, but the reinstallation and transfer issues were a bit rough. But I made it in time to get this Pogo strip from 45 years ago today posted for your Kelly habit.

There will be no new posts for a couple of days, but I'll be back with some cool stuff midweekish. Ta.

My Favorite Virgo by Virgil

Late in his career, Virgil Finlay did a lot of illustrations for astrological magazines, some of it mediocre, but some of it superlative. This is my favorite of his astrology designs.

Virgo

Preliminary drawing for Virgo

A beautiful rendering of a variation of Virgo

Character Spots

I think these character spot illustrations by Virgil Finlay for Galaxy are pretty neat, from later in his huge body of work. See, he did draw more than just pretty women covered with sparkles and bubbles and stars.

The Cautious Amorist-2

The Cautious Amorist-3

Channeling

Kinuko Craft, great modern illustrator, channels great illustrators of the past, here a cross between Edmund Dulac and Charles Robinson, with a little Rene Bull in the mix. Illustration for a story in Playboy—but of course—didja think Boy's Life?

Haunting Dreams

Here is a lovely 'dream painting' by Claude Verlinde. A sort of similar concept to Hopper's Boy and Moon from several posts ago, but doubtfully influenced by it. I love the chair morph.

Dreams can be haunting and mysterious—and paintings of dreams resonate with our yearning for 'something more' in life.

The Sea Maiden

A well known painting by Herbert Draper is The Sea Maiden. What one doesn't see so often are the studies that the artist made to guide his final painting. 

The Sea Maiden

The oil sketch

The final compositional study

Figure study for the sea maiden

Krazy 3D

I'm Krazy for artwork by George Herriman. Don't ask why, cuz I don't think I can describe it. I've collected every Herriman collection I've ever come across, even those from long before Eclipse Books. Even this Krazy little 3D comic from 1987.

Here, below, it's 3D! Try it! I know you have some of them little glasses around the house. Just remember that the red goes over the left eye.

A Promotional Cover I Like

I know this is a pretty recent Dark Horse promotional cover and you probably have it yourself, but it's by Mike Mignola, and I wanna see it up on screen, cuz I like it!

Another Crazy Dream

Edward Hopper, the American Realist painter and printmaker, has (in my mind) an odd piece in his oeuvre of work. Entitled Boy and Moon, it is an undated pen and ink and watercolor drawing in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.  

To me, this looks amazingly like Little Nemo, by Winsor McCay, having another crazy dream. I know nothing about Hopper's motivation for this image, and maybe he meant it as an homage, or maybe it is pure coincidence. Hopper would have been 23 when Little Nemo was first published. I'm curious how old he was when he did this drawing.

Edward Hopper—Boy and Moon, no date

Winsor McCay—Little Nemo, 1905

A Glorious Tradition

It's another Sunday, Kelly Sunday. The days jes' FLY by. Anyone familiar with our proceedings knows that this here strip wuz in the paper some forty-five year ago TOday.

Far-Flung Worlds and Bars

Galactic empires are fictional constructs, thereby allowing each of us to build our own in the deep cosmic reaches of our imaginations.  I choose to imagine thousands of far-flung worlds in various states of civilization—and I'm fortunate that thousands of science fiction illustrations just so happen to reflect segments of histories on those worlds (many of them in far-flung bars). Raise your swords, and your mugs, to this one, by Michael Whelan.

Spirit of the Fountain

There was a time when folks thought nature spirits inhabited intersections of nature and manmade structures—thresholds, hearths, bridges and, as here, fountains. I think it's a lovely way of thinking, especially if the spirits are as comely as this one, painted by Herbert Draper.

Herbert Draper—Spirit of the Fountain

The Royal Umbrella

This illustration is 129 years old and has been in my morgue for nearly one third of that time. The note on the back, in my handwriting,  sez it's by Linley Sambourne, 1880, from The Royal Umbrella.  I haven't the vaguest notion where I got it, but I think it's nifty.